Chapter 148

Xie Juanhan looked at it. "How is it? I told you you weren't feeling unwell, right?"

Harper whispered that it might get uncomfortable if it went on too long, "Chirp."

Xie Juanhan: "If you get tired of carrying it, you can put it in its nest. Just keep your body close to it; you can carry it on your back or hug it."

Harper looked at her friends, but still couldn't make up her mind.

Xie Juanhan said, "The Demon Bird has been incubating for a while now, and it should be ready in about another month. It's guaranteed to yield at least four gold coins."

Haxi tugged at Xie Juanhan's wrist with its paw, indicating that it also wanted to try carrying him on its back.

Xie Juanhan then handed the cloth bag containing the Demon Bird to Haxi to carry on his back.

Haxi carried it on his back and ran around the yard.

It moved nimbly, and the bag stayed steady as it ran, which did not affect its activities much.

Harper and Haxi both agreed, and the other Companion Beast were more willing.

They obediently tried on the backpacks one by one, and they all seemed to be doing well.

When it was Moli's turn, Moli let out a soft "woof," indicating that he could carry three Demon Bird.

Nibote immediately challenged Xie Juanhan's hand with his large head, indicating that he could also carry three.

Xie Juanhan patted Moli, then patted Nibote: "Then each of you carry two? If both Tuonai'er Demon Bird successfully hatch, you'll get at least eight gold coins."

Upon hearing this, Nibote's enthusiasm immediately soared. "Aww!"

Seeing that the little ones were accepting the task well, Xie Juanhan said with a smile, "There's one more issue. Demon Bird are quite precious. If you want to hatch Demon Bird, you need to pay a gold coin as a deposit. If the egg is broken, the deposit will be deducted. Is that alright?"

The furry creatures were stunned, not expecting him to make such a request. "Huh?"

Xie Juanhan: "You have to take responsibility for breaking the Demon Bird at home."

After much deliberation, the Companion Beast reluctantly took out gold coins as a deposit.

Moli and Nibote also put up deposits.

Moli even took two gold coins out of his nest.

Nibote's eyes darted around, revealing the whites of his eyes. Seeing Moli stuff the gold coins into Xie Juanhan's hand, he reluctantly took out two gold coins as well.

Xie Juanhan specially asked the furry creatures at home to incubate the eggs, so he dragged Telingewei to the Weaving Fairies to order a special incubation backpack.

The Weaving Fairies obtained the body data of each furry creature and made special adjustments specifically for them.

Xie Juanhan was generous and even asked the Weaving Fairies to sew rune templates onto the backpacks, engraved with three runes: insulation, weight reduction, and protection, to minimize the chances of the furry creatures accidentally breaking the Demon Bird.

When they officially started incubating the eggs, Harper and the others found it easy for the first day or two.

After a few days, they started to feel uncomfortable with the very noticeable incubation backpack.

One of the Companion Beast wanted to quit. It carried its backpack, tilted its head back, and whimpered at Xie Juanhan.

Xie Juanhan: "If you quit now, your deposit will be forfeited. If other players successfully receive the reward, you will earn at least five fewer gold coins than them."

The Companion Beast's ears drooped a little.

Xie Juanhan pointed to the calendar on the wall. "We've persisted for three days, there are about twenty-seven days left. If we quit now, all the time we've spent incubating the eggs will have been wasted."

The Companion Beast looked at the calendar on the wall, even more frustrated, their ears pressed tightly against their heads, no longer visible.

"Chirp chirp." The little guys came over to Xie Juanhan with their opinions in a sullen manner, and then left in a sullen manner.

When the little ones couldn't get through to Xie Juanhan, they went to pester Telingewei instead.

Telingewei, expressionless, pushed away Habi and Habei, who were clinging tightly to his arm. "What's the use of coming to me? I'm not going to pay your penalty coins."

"Chirp!"

"Begging won't work. You promised to help hatch the eggs, so you have to keep your promise."

"Chirp--"

"Hatching the eggs is considered household chores, and it's already very kind of A-Han to contribute gold coins. When A-Han makes the Tuonai'er Demon Bird to eat, do you really expect to pay gold coins for it?"

"Eek." Habei slid down, resting his chin on Telingewei's boot, his big eyes looking up at him.

Telingewei tried to push it away with a slight movement of his foot, but failed.

A group of Companion Beast started pestering Telingewei, clinging to him no matter what Telingewei said.

Telingewei's face was stern, expressionless, and his tone was anything but gentle.

In the evening, Xie Juanhan returned from hunting. The house was quiet; Telingewei and the little ones were not there.

Xie Juanhan felt something was off and called out, "Telingewei?"

He just shouted it out casually, not expecting a response.

Unexpectedly, a deep voice came from inside the room. "Here."

Xie Juanhan walked into the room. "Are you sleeping?"

Telingewei rarely slept at this time, Xie Juanhan immediately became a little nervous. He quickly walked over and asked, "Why are you sleeping at this hour? Are you feeling unwell?"

Xie Juanhan spoke, he quickly washed his hands in the bathroom, dried them, rubbed them to warm them, and then walked to the bedside to press his hand against Telingewei's forehead.

Telingewei's forehead temperature was normal.

Creatures like them are not exactly reliable when it comes to testing the temperature of someone's forehead.

Xie Juanhan's action was subconscious.

Telingewei grasped Xie Juanhan's wrist and gently pulled his hand down. "I'm fine."

Why are you lying in bed if nothing's wrong?

"Help Harper and the others incubate their eggs for a while," Telingewei said, lowering her eyelashes. "Let them go out and play for a bit."

Xie Juanhan gently opened the quilt, and sure enough, there were six Demon Bird neatly placed on each side of Telingewei's body.

He lay motionless in the very center.

Xie Juanhan: "... Who really dotes on the furry ones more?"

==========Author's Note:=========

See you tomorrow!

Chapter 148 [VIP]

Deep winter is approaching, and after deep winter comes the beginning of spring.

According to Xie Juanhan's family tradition, they would celebrate the beginning of spring.

Therefore, during this harsh winter, they became even more active in hunting and gathering food for celebration.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei each have their own preferred hunting styles, and they usually act separately.

Sometimes Xie Juanhan would come home earlier, and sometimes it would be Telingewei who came home earlier.

That day, Telingewei was the one who got home relatively early.

When Xie Juanhan returned home, it wasn't completely dark yet.

Because the days with the shortest days have passed, now the days are gradually getting longer and the nights are gradually getting shorter.

It wasn't completely dark yet, but it was already getting late.

Xie Juanhan caught a whiff of Telingewei's presence, but heard no sound.

He glanced at the quiet little house nestled in the dim light and immediately guessed that Telingewei was incubating eggs.

Xie Juanhan could even go into the room to find Telingewei, Harper and the others came running in from outside with their little paws "tap tap," leaving shallow paw prints in the snow.

They were empty-body, without any incubator backpacks.

They leaped over the high fence into the yard, unaware of Xie Juanhan in the kitchen, and ran straight into the room.

Xie Juanhan came out of the kitchen.

Nibote, who was at the back of the line, caught a glimpse of Xie Juanhan out of the corner of his eye and paused for a moment.

The other furry creatures only noticed Xie Juanhan after they realized Nibote was making a sound.

They all froze when they saw Xie Juanhan's ambiguous smile.

Once they realized what had happened, they quickly pretended to be nonchalant and puffed out their chests.

Xie Juanhan washed his hands, walked over, and gently flicked Nibote's forehead. "Feeling guilty, huh?"

Nibote rubbed his big head against Xie Juanhan's waist. "Awoo."

Other furry creatures rubbed against my legs, making "chirp chirp" sounds.

Xie Juanhan pushed open the door.

The room was quiet, and no whale oil lamps were lit.

However, Xie Juanhan could hear Telingewei's soft breathing.

Telingewei probably had a long day of hunting, was tired, and lay down to incubate the eggs, and accidentally fell asleep.

Xie Juanhan found it funny, but after laughing, his heart softened completely.

He stood at the doorway, not disturbing Telingewei, but instead gestured to the children to step back.

Let Telingewei sleep for a while, then wake him up for dinner.

Xie Juanhan stated.

Seeing Xie Juanhan's gesture, the little ones obediently moved their paws backward.

They retreated almost silently.

However, Telingewei still realized that there were other creatures in the room.

"A-Han?" Telingewei's voice was somewhat muffled as he reached out and pulled back the covers, trying to sit up.

In that instant, he uttered a surprised sound, "Huh?"

Xie Juanhan immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

Xie Juanhan waved his hand, using his Dragon Power to light the lamps in the room.

The instant the lights came on, he saw Telingewei's incredibly strange expression.

Telingewei's hand was halfway up the blanket when it bounced up, partially obscuring his chest and abdomen.

Xie Juanhan couldn't see clearly what was over there either.

Xie Juanhan strode forward, pulled back the blanket, and was stunned.

A nest of Demon Bird was perched on Telingewei's chest and on either side of his body.

The temperature inside the blankets was quite high, and their feathers were even a bit dry, revealing a relatively fluffy appearance to their sparse feathers.

"Coo coo."

Suddenly blinded by the light, the little birds crouched down uneasily, nestling like tiny fluffy balls around Telingewei's body.

Part of the pink eggshell around the bed had been eaten, and some pieces were broken, scattered all over the bed.

Harper and the others heard the noise and ran over, craning their necks to look at the bed.

"Chirp!" Haxi chirped loudly, turning to look at Xie Juanhan, indicating that the chicks had hatched.